- Any renovation will take longer than you, or the trades, or anyone thinks.
- ...even after accounting for rule 1.
2013-05-14
Dave's Rules Of Home Renovation
Not that I'm an expert or been involved in many of these things,but it seems that one thing has been true every time we've done this:
2013-05-13
Sharepoint Hate
The more I work with Sharepoint, the more I realize that I absolutely loath it.
It has the same total-lack-of-organizational-structure that a good wiki has, but throws in an awful web-based Word-style "formatting" and "style" markup toolset for presentation. It has the same insistence-on-doing-the-wrong-thing that old versions of Word had (and maybe modern versions have if you have not come to grips with the formatting tools there).
The difference is, I can bully Word into A) staying out of my way until I want to do the formatting, and B) looking more or less the same as all the other documents I produce do.
The Sharepoint wiki thing is awful.
(I'm also not a fan of the Sharepoint ideal of just-write-everything-in-Word and storing those in Sharepoint. The wiki is best in theory, but its like they've deliberately made it unusable.)
Somehow I elected myself policy master, and that means I get to write all the first drafts -- including the documents which describe how documents are to be written, named, and filed. And being forced to use this tool just makes me want to hurt something.
The old wiki had the same lack of standardization and lack of ingrained organizational structure -- but at least I could do the markup language without thinking about it.
Since we are going to have to write another how-to-wiki document anyways, I'm wondering if changing our storage medium is really a good idea in the long run. I'm starting to suspect that this is more about abandoning our messy past than actually fixing the future.
It has the same total-lack-of-organizational-structure that a good wiki has, but throws in an awful web-based Word-style "formatting" and "style" markup toolset for presentation. It has the same insistence-on-doing-the-wrong-thing that old versions of Word had (and maybe modern versions have if you have not come to grips with the formatting tools there).
The difference is, I can bully Word into A) staying out of my way until I want to do the formatting, and B) looking more or less the same as all the other documents I produce do.
The Sharepoint wiki thing is awful.
(I'm also not a fan of the Sharepoint ideal of just-write-everything-in-Word and storing those in Sharepoint. The wiki is best in theory, but its like they've deliberately made it unusable.)
Somehow I elected myself policy master, and that means I get to write all the first drafts -- including the documents which describe how documents are to be written, named, and filed. And being forced to use this tool just makes me want to hurt something.
The old wiki had the same lack of standardization and lack of ingrained organizational structure -- but at least I could do the markup language without thinking about it.
Since we are going to have to write another how-to-wiki document anyways, I'm wondering if changing our storage medium is really a good idea in the long run. I'm starting to suspect that this is more about abandoning our messy past than actually fixing the future.
2013-04-17
Dammit, Oracle
I don't want the Ask toolbar. I've never wanted the Ask toolbar. I've said no to the Ask toolbar each of the dozen or so times it has been offered in Java security updates. Stop asking me about the Ask toolbar.
Algorythmically, how hard is this?
IF (<this is an upgrade of JAVA>)
ANDIF (<the installed version of java shipped with the Ask toolbar option>)
ANDIF (<the Ask toolbar isn't installed>)
THEN ( the user probably doesn't want the Ask toolbar, so don't offer it )
ELSE
IF (<the Ask toolbar isn't installed>)
THEN(offer the Ask toolbar)
Seriously?
This is almost as bad as Adobe's insistence that I want a big, steaming pile of Adobe Reader icon plopped on my desktop during an upgrade of that.
I really wish I could just jettison java and be done with it.
Sooon....
Algorythmically, how hard is this?
IF (<this is an upgrade of JAVA>)
ANDIF (<the installed version of java shipped with the Ask toolbar option>)
ANDIF (<the Ask toolbar isn't installed>)
THEN ( the user probably doesn't want the Ask toolbar, so don't offer it )
ELSE
IF (<the Ask toolbar isn't installed>)
THEN(offer the Ask toolbar)
Seriously?
This is almost as bad as Adobe's insistence that I want a big, steaming pile of Adobe Reader icon plopped on my desktop during an upgrade of that.
I really wish I could just jettison java and be done with it.
Sooon....
2013-04-16
Selinux
Major Hayden of Racker Hacker wants us to use Selinux. So he's created a site to shame us into using it.
My reply:
Seriously? Your simple solution to educating people is a 52 minute video? I don't have time to watch a video to figure out selinux.
Why do I disable selinux? Because so many of the things I install include that instruction for setting things up. If the developers of these things won't take the time to learn how to make them work in a selinux environment, why should end users be expected to do this development work -- individually, meaning a lot of duplicated and inconsistent effort?
It is like expecting end users to put in SQL input sanitizer routines in their web apps. You are targeting the wrong community.
Yes, a system with SELinux is, all other things being equal, more secure than one without it. But a system with one-time passwords is more secure than a system without. Security is not just a question of "more is better". System administration is a case of balance, of trade off between utility, usability, and manageability.
If you can run in a selinux-enforcing worl, I have huge respect for you, because in the past I have tried and failed.
But until I can install the tools I need/want and have the developers support me with selinux enabled, I have more important things to do.
2013-04-10
Standing Desk: 4th Iteration
I thought I had a picture of the third iteration of the standing desk, but I don't.
What happened was that a co-worker decided he needed a third screen because of what he is doing, so the boss got him one. The boss asked me if I wanted one, so I jokingly said "sure" because I didn't expect it to happen. But it showed up in January with other stuff for some new hires, and I'm not going to say no to new gear -- so presto, two screens.
I had them together on the cabinet on the desk, with two little Dell monitor stands underneath them, and this lifted them up to a height that was convenient for me to see.
The second thing that happened was that I lost my glasses. This forced an emergency visit to the optometrist, and new prescription in hand, I went and got new ones. So now, I can read the small print on the laptop LCD screen from where I stand.
So now I'm using things like this:
I did have the keyboard on another two inch monitor stand briefly, but that got repurposed into a monitor stand for the two-monitor layout. That left the keyboard a little uncomfortably high, and the mouse on the lower level.
Over the winter I went around in socks only for the most part, since the $10 shoes I was using were about $20 too expensive (if you know what I mean). Since boot weather has more or less gone, I'm just wearing my shoes on the straight floor because the pad tile I have is too small to shuffle around on. I am considering finding a larger mat to stand on, but with my day-to-day shoes I can stand straight on the floor.
I find I move around while standing, even if it is just shuffling back and forth on my feet while working. And standing up makes it trivial to just step out of the cube when I need a micro break.
If I need to think, I'm still sitting down, especially in the afternoon. This lets me stare out the window at the parking lot, which removes the distractions of the screens from my view. There's also awhite clear board I can doodle on in my line of sight, which helps.
But one good thing -- I happened to be on a scale last week, and I'm down 10 pounds from where I was at my last physical -- which predated the whole standing-desk thing. So maybe it is paying off in terms of fitness, a little bit.
One thing is for sure, I've stuck with it a lot longer than I thought I would.
(Previously: 1, 2.)
What happened was that a co-worker decided he needed a third screen because of what he is doing, so the boss got him one. The boss asked me if I wanted one, so I jokingly said "sure" because I didn't expect it to happen. But it showed up in January with other stuff for some new hires, and I'm not going to say no to new gear -- so presto, two screens.
I had them together on the cabinet on the desk, with two little Dell monitor stands underneath them, and this lifted them up to a height that was convenient for me to see.
The second thing that happened was that I lost my glasses. This forced an emergency visit to the optometrist, and new prescription in hand, I went and got new ones. So now, I can read the small print on the laptop LCD screen from where I stand.
So now I'm using things like this:
 |
| I'm not sure where the penguin came from. |
Over the winter I went around in socks only for the most part, since the $10 shoes I was using were about $20 too expensive (if you know what I mean). Since boot weather has more or less gone, I'm just wearing my shoes on the straight floor because the pad tile I have is too small to shuffle around on. I am considering finding a larger mat to stand on, but with my day-to-day shoes I can stand straight on the floor.
I find I move around while standing, even if it is just shuffling back and forth on my feet while working. And standing up makes it trivial to just step out of the cube when I need a micro break.
If I need to think, I'm still sitting down, especially in the afternoon. This lets me stare out the window at the parking lot, which removes the distractions of the screens from my view. There's also a
But one good thing -- I happened to be on a scale last week, and I'm down 10 pounds from where I was at my last physical -- which predated the whole standing-desk thing. So maybe it is paying off in terms of fitness, a little bit.
One thing is for sure, I've stuck with it a lot longer than I thought I would.
(Previously: 1, 2.)
2013-04-09
Endless Circling
Dear Google,
When I click on Google+ in my web browser, the first thing you show me is a list of people I might want to put into circles. Well guess what -- this is usually the same group of people you've shown me every time for the last six weeks (or however long this change has been active).
You are smart -- if I have not circled these people by now, what are the odds that I'm going to circle them now? (Hint: it is the same shape as a circle.)
Stop showing me the same list of people.
Better yet, stop showing me a list of people.
If I want to circle people, I'll go looking for people to circle. If I'm looking for Google+ , let me get to Google+ without the additional annoying click.
There are only two possible outcomes from you continuing this: either I'll just tune out the page completely and automatically click the "continue" button, or worse, I'll eventually get so mad I'll go ARGH! FUCK! and just stop coming here.
And you wouldn't want that, would you?
Didn't think so.
Love, me.
When I click on Google+ in my web browser, the first thing you show me is a list of people I might want to put into circles. Well guess what -- this is usually the same group of people you've shown me every time for the last six weeks (or however long this change has been active).
You are smart -- if I have not circled these people by now, what are the odds that I'm going to circle them now? (Hint: it is the same shape as a circle.)
Stop showing me the same list of people.
Better yet, stop showing me a list of people.
If I want to circle people, I'll go looking for people to circle. If I'm looking for Google+ , let me get to Google+ without the additional annoying click.
There are only two possible outcomes from you continuing this: either I'll just tune out the page completely and automatically click the "continue" button, or worse, I'll eventually get so mad I'll go ARGH! FUCK! and just stop coming here.
And you wouldn't want that, would you?
Didn't think so.
Love, me.
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